1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to vehicle occupant sensing. More specifically, the present invention relates to automatic detection of the presence of an occupant on a vehicle seat and occupant characteristics such as age or facing, with a special focus on detecting children in child safety restraint devices, such as safety seats.
2. Background Information
Child safety has always been an important societal focus. In recent years, for example, great progress has been made in the design of child safety seats for automobiles. In fact, in many instances, hospitals require new parents to have a properly configured child safety seat waiting in their car before they can even take their own child home.
The child safety seat does not protect the child from all dangers, however. In particular, when young children are left unattended in an automobile, the consequences can be tragic. Each year, multiple children suffocate because they were left unintentionally in the back seat of a car, minivan, or other vehicle.
While several passenger detection systems have been proposed for controlling air bag activation, they have not been entirely suitable for widespread and cost effective implementation. For example, weight sensors may incorrectly detect or classify unusually light or heavy children. As another example, optical sensors are typically expensive and require complex optical processing equipment.
Thus, interest remains strong in overcoming the problems noted above and arriving at a reliable sensing system that may be conveniently installed in one or more locations in vehicle seats, and that is particularly adapted to detecting occupied child safety devices.